The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Along with the Cathedral of St. Joseph it is the seat of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. It is a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the Quality Hill neighborhood, which is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

The Rev. Benedict Roux arrived in Kansas City in 1833. Two years later he built a church out of logs at Eleventh and Broadway that was named St. John Francis Regis. From 1845 to 1880 the parish was served by the Rev. Bernard Donnelly who was a circuit-riding priest. He had a brick church built in 1857 that was named Immaculate Conception. Qualityhill2006

The Diocese of Kansas City was established by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

in 1880. Bishop John Joseph Hogan selected Immaculate Conception as the cathedral for the new diocese and laid the

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

for the present cathedral in 1882. While the interior of the building was incomplete and temporary windows filled the spaces, the first Mass in the church was celebrated on Trinity Sunday in 1883. The cathedral was built on the highest ground of the city and at 150 feet (37.6 m) it was the tallest structure in Kansas City at the time. During the early years, the parish sold tickets to allowing residents to climb the steps in the tower to see the view. A

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

of eleven bells was placed in the tower in 1895. The bells are named after the following saints: St. Anna, St. Bernard, St. Catherine, St. Cecilia, St. Edward, St. Elizabeth, St. Helen, St. John, St. Mary and St. Thomas. The largest bell, St. Thomas, is rung more than the others. The

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows, created by local artisans at the Kansas City Stained Glass Works Company, were installed in 1912. The windows depict various Biblical scenes and the life of Christ. From 1903 to 1945 the Cathedral operated St. Christopher's Inn, on Main Street, a Single Room Occupancy facility for homeless men. Bishop Edwin V. O’Hara led a major renovation of the cathedral's interior in 1955. On August 29, 1956,

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

merged the western part of the Diocese of St. Joseph with the northern part of Diocese of Kansas City to form the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph. The rest of what was the Kansas City Diocese became part of the newly established Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. As a result, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has Co-Cathedrals: the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and the Cathedral of St. Joseph. The copper dome on the cathedral tower started to deteriorate. It was replaced by a new dome, cupola and cross covered in 23-carat

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in an effort led by Bishop John Cody in 1960. A diocesan capital campaign, Gift of Faith, began in 2001 to provide necessary funds for another major renovation and restoration of the cathedral. Bishop Raymond J. Boland dedicated the renewed cathedral on February 23, 2003.

References

External links

Official Cathedral Site

Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Official Site
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, state=collapsed Religious organizations established in 1857 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1883 Immaculate Conception (Kansas City, Missouri) Roman Catholic churches in Kansas City, Missouri Historic district contributing properties in Missouri 1857 establishments in Missouri Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri Church buildings with domes National Register of Historic Places in Kansas City, Missouri 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States

History

See also

References

External links